CFO News Room

JANUARY 7, 2023

Data: Trickle to a Flood! It is perhaps a reflection of my age that I remember when getting data to do corporate financial analysis or valuation was a chore. Mean reversion : I am not a knee-jerk believer in mean reversion, but the tendency for numbers to move back towards averages is a strong one.

Marketing 130

Marketing Valuation Corporate Finance Financial Analysis 130

Musings on Markets

JANUARY 5, 2024

The numbers that I computed opened my eyes to how much perspective on the high, low, and typical values, i.e., the distribution of margins, helped in valuing the company, and how little information there was available, at least at that time, on this dimension.

Valuation 98

Valuation Financial Analysis Analyzing Data Profit and Loss 98

Musings on Markets

JANUARY 9, 2021

To illustrate, consider a practice in valuation, where analysts are trained to add a small cap premium to discount rates for smaller companies, on the intuition that they are riskier than larger companies. In closing, I also want to dispense with the notion that data is objective and that numbers-focused people have no bias.

Valuation 52

Valuation Currencies Numbers Corporate Finance 52

Musings on Markets

JANUARY 6, 2023

It is perhaps a reflection of my age that I remember when getting data to do corporate financial analysis or valuation was a chore. Thus, without a sense of what comprises a high or low profit margin for a firm, or what the cost of capital is for the typical company, it is easy to create "fairy tale" valuations and analyses.

Valuation 52

Valuation Corporate Finance Financial Analysis Leverage 52

Musings on Markets

AUGUST 15, 2023

After the rating downgrade, my mailbox was inundated with questions of what this action meant for investing, in general, and for corporate finance and valuation practice, in particular, and this post is my attempt to answer them all with one post. and the reverse will occur, when risk-free rates drop.

Investments 80

Investments Currencies Treasury Hurdle Rate 80

Musings on Markets

JULY 25, 2023

The graph below shows the sovereign CDS levels, by country: Source: Bloomberg ( July 2023 data ) There are three things to note, as you browse these numbers. My suggestion is that for countries where recent political or economic events would lead you to believe that sovereign rating is dated, you should switch to using sovereign CDS spreads.

Hurdle Rate 52

Hurdle Rate Currencies Valuation Marketing 52